A couple nights with Bruce - Part 2

Pine Knob, Jun 17, 2006:
Chapter 68: In Which Elianna Dances, and a Tooth is Loosed

Middle of last week, when the announcement finally came that kids 12 and under would be free for Springsteen's show at Pine Knob, I sent it to a friend; he'd said for $25 a ticket with free kids he might take the whole family. Next day we get a call, wanna hang out on the lawn?

I thought about it, and finally decided, if the kids are game, let's do it. The other family eventually bailed, but we stayed with it.

Since Lori's knee still isn't compatible with a night on the lawn, I bought her a seat down front. Somehow I resisted the urge to buy one for myself. So, while Lori traded gardening tips with Dave's mom downstairs, I had our two kids (ages 9 and 5) and Aaron's friend Timmy up in picnic land.

First things first: Free means, free to drop $47 on a scrumptious dinner of nachos & lemonade, with dessert of cotton candy and snow cones. Load 'em up with enough starch and sugar, and just about any kid can be a good concert-goer, I figure. The same vendor coming through the lawn got us one lemonade and then two more lemonades; when he came back later holding cotton candy all he had to do was look at us... that just wasn't fair.

The evening was perfect for a concert. During the day it had gotten in to the 90's, but by concert time it had dropped to maybe 80, with perfect clear skies and no wind. Bruce started at 8:20, a significant improvement over Friday night's absurdly late start. The sound on the hill was fine. It's not quite as loud up there as in the pavilion; if anything that makes it easier to sing along -- and these are good songs for singing along. It also allows for interacting with the kids.

The show virtually duplicated the previous night at Blossom, the only difference being a Celtic-flavored arrangement of "Further On Up the Road" replacing "Into the Fire" in the setlist. Several songs appeared to have a bit more energy, and Bruce appeared to be having a better time with his hand. As at Blossom, the pavilion was mostly full, and there was a pretty substantial turnout on the lawn as well. By "Jacob's Ladder" -- maybe even earlier this evening, the crowd had been won over; plenty of standing, dancing and singing along on the lawn.

Elianna discovered that she could roll down the hill and do somersaults; after one dangerous demonstration I determined that any time she wanted to dance, she was dancing with daddy and the dance would be down at the rail where it's flat. We moved down to the rail many times throughout the show.

"Long Time Comin'" was again dedicated to Evan; I couldn't see Evan but I guess he was pretty much right next to Lori. Different vantage points, I guess. Elianna danced during "Long Time Comin'," and then felt for her tooth... it wasn't there. Amazingly, the tooth fairy found the tooth on the concrete.

Bruce dedicated "We Shall Overcome" to Dave's mom.

The kids mostly made it through the show. Aaron got cranky sometime after 10 and finally fell asleep during the encores -- but not before having a good laugh when someone on the hill drew a big cheer during "Bring Them Home" by screaming out a comment about the president. Timmy is now asking his parents to take him to more concerts; he was with it every step of the way. And Elianna danced right through "Ramrod," which she recognized was melodically similar to "Pay Me My Money Down" -- a recognition made clear by her shouting the words in my ear every time through. Other families had varying results; the family next to us on the lawn had to leave when their child had a meltdown toward the end of the main set.

Show closed with "When the Saints Go Marching In" again, and the sight on the lawn was beautiful; many people standing, arm in arm, swaying to the music as Bruce and Mark sang it out.